Cassie's Cuddles

Tuesday  night Steph arrived home from India. Her plane arrived at 8:40pm. I felt really excited waiting for her. A few of the parents hadn’t arrived by the time that the team where coming out, the kiddies looked disappointed. We were prepared with balloons and a lame hat 😀She finally walked out…It’s amazing to know that she has been to India and back. Of course she brought back some gifts for people. I told her not to bring back any trinkets, so i think that I actually stressed her out. She mainly bought back some bangles (glass ones) for her friends, a special box for her auntie, some ear muffs for her daddy and brothers. G’parents and supporters will get a little something too, just to say thank you. I love this picture, I can’t help but laugh. This is a small group of the team (one technically wasn’t part of the team, she came seperatly) in a rickshaw. Poor Joshua stuck in the side. I loved the fact that each group of girls had a boy to watch over them. He was to be the protector ( you have to love that eh?). All up, it sounds as though he did a great job, afterall they all came back, lol. Joshua’s mummy and daddy should be proud, all that training as the oldest sibling has paid off 😀 On the very last day they did some sightseeing. I would love to put some photos of the children that they went and and got to know, but I need to wait for permission.  Overall, it sounds as though they worked very hard, had their eyes opened, and also had the bonus of getting to know their team like family. Personally I feel as though I know Steph’s fellow travelers really well with all her talking over the last few days.This is a cool sight, I could see how far Stephanie had traveled on the way home. Awesome! I made up some washing liquid for the washing machine. I found the very simple recipe here:http://down—to—earth.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/have-you-tried-homemade-laundry-liquid.html All it takes is  1 Litre of water, I cup of Lux soap flakes, 1/2 cup of washing soda, and 1/2 cup of borax. Bring to boil, put into a 10 litre  bucket, and add water, mix well. Then funnel into your  clean bottles. Easy. I have done three loads so far, and it has worked well.  Rhonda has  just written a book too (which I have just ordered), so you might want to take a look at it.Alycia has done some painting.Another little experiment that I tried this week, is making an egg heart. I think I will need to try it again to make it perfect.this is my effort, mmm,,,try again..We have done a bit of cooking too. I love the fact that my local fruit shop, sometimes have a book of vegies for $3.As long as you use it up quickly, it’s a bargain.

Hee hee, I’m only kidding. Well, kinda. This year for Christmas my sister in law gave us a family pass to go to Geelong Water Adventure Park, so cool.  I thought Jared would go, but he passed, and Steph said to go without her. So my Father and sister came along, it was so fun. Seriously I haven’t laughed that hard for a long time. Once you are in the place, everything is included. Do you believe that I went down a water tunnel? Seriously scary. It use to be fun, but now I weigh a lot more, and I go race car fast. I couldn’t stay on the stupid tube!!The second time when I went down, I went down with my sister. I nearly killed her. We went so fast, and flipped. She banged her face, I banged my elbow, and all I remember was saying “Sorry, I’m so sorry”, then I was worried that I was going to bang into her back and break her…..scary. I decided not to be a thrill seeker again. There was a cool payground, a lazy river where you are suppose to stay in the tyre all the way around. Alycia instead scored some money on the floor of the “river” and about 10 hair bands (gross).I love this photo of dad. Doesn’t he look happy? Dad if you don’t like this photo, let me know and I will take it off. I’m jealous, I couldn’t fit into the tube!My sister is a wild child in the car, lol. They also went on paddle boats, canoes, and huge jumping castle for adults. Yeah, I went on it. Oh man, I’m glad my family doesn’t have a blog, I would hate to think that a photo of me trying to climb that thing would be public viewing.  I rolled off that thing like a biggest loser. My greatest challenge was going down a very long and bumpy outdoor slide. At first I was scared, then I watched my dad, sister and kiddies go down. Despite the fact that my sister didn’t look that great afterward, I climbed up. Oh man, I nearly climbed back down, but when Alycia said to me “Mum, I don’t think that you will fit in the slide”, that was it. My sister videoed the whole ride, with a humours commentary. I have watched it a couple of times, and it brings tears to my eyes. (happy tears), she is so funny.

We had some injuries, this is my sister’s gash.

Cassandra made an elephant, I was very proud of her.Don’t you love the concentration of a 6 year old?Isn’t this a cute picture of Lachlan and Alycia? We bought this suit from an op shop on the weekend. A whole $12.50. It was Alycia’s birthday on Sat. She is now 12. She is a sweetie. Out of all my children, I wonder how she will develop. I expect her to be one way, and she often surprises me. All good though, very nice. I think she should marry a farmer, she is an outside girl, who is always interested in nature, unlike the rest of us.Oh, yeah. we washed the car, the lazy way 😀

My big girl comes home tomorrow night. I can’t wait.

I have had a nice week. I have been able to visit with my mum, and a few days later catch up with my mum and sister. We spent a morning going through some op shops. The kids and I love doing that. I finally found Uncle Tom’s Cabin, after looking for it for over a year. I gave the copy to mum to readI joined up for an owl swap. I have to make two owl items and put in a few tuck ins. I can show you the first thing I have made because it is a secret swap. This is a sewing kit, that I am pretty proud of. I saw one similar when I went to a friend’s house, so I decided to make one up that was similar.and the outside…I have spent some time doing bits and pieces, cutting more liners, boxing up items for Malawi, cleaning the boy’s room AGAIN! Oh, and killing huntsmans. We have killed 6 just this week. Did you know that they have pale blue blood? If they weren’t so scary, they would be fascinating.I bought this bear chair from ebay this week for $25. My sister picked it up for me. Can you believe that the head has gone limp already. My Cassandra might have hugged it a little too much?This is Lachlan, we had just picked him up at the tram station. Cassandra had bought him an un-opened Elvis wig for a present from the op shop. Funny huh?

My Big girl, Stephanie (16), has gone off to India. Wow, she has nearly been away for a week, it is sooooooooo quiet. I wake up, and the first thing I do is pray for her, and the it is the last thing I do at night. She will be working in an orphanage teaching and playing with them, and also doing some maintenance etc. She is with 13 other people. There is an older couple acting as mumma and pappa. She was one excited girl at the airport, and then suddenly she went quiet.This is her team.Besides hearing from her from Singapore Airport inbetween flights, we haven’t heard from her!! I know that someone over there has a phone, because that girl called me to say that she heard that Steph arrived, so……? Ugh!!  After we watched our girl walk through the international flight area, we went of to a friends house.  Cassandra was running around the house with their son, when they banged into eachother. Ouch, what a bruise she got.oh yeah, I take photos of everything. A couple of days later, she had nasty bruises under her eyes as well.Poor little thing. She is ok otherwise. In between we have had a few visitors for tea. One of Lachlan’s friend’s family, another family who is interested in homeschooling. We have been to the zoo, with a lovely family. Busy, busy. Now it is back to the school routine. Although I must admit, I wagged this morning to go and visit my mother :D. Check out this cup that I bought last week. I know, it’s kitch, but I love it, and at $2.99, how could I walk past?Look at these cool items! My friend Jayni who is in Malawi right now with her family, gave them to us. I was so excited.  They have been given to the girls of the Hood family. Some lovely papers, stamps, ink pads and this gorgeous owl punch. I admit it, I had a little play before the girls, but they will get to play too, I promise 😀 Thank you Jayni and Craig, you are very generous to think of us, when you are so busy as it is. If you are reading this Jayni, I admire you so much, not because of your gift to us, but because of your gift of  serving others in Malawi, especially the little children. Can’t wait until you get back to Aust. and we can have a good catch up.Check out my creative Dad. He made this echidna!! I was impressed. I’m thinking of selling it on ebay for him, do you think anyone would buy it for their garden? It has feet, and a nose. I love seeing my parents getting crafty.

That’s what you will think of me once I have finished this post. Ok, so we have been busy like everyone else in the world, but I will attempt to give you some details about what we have been up too. Now you know that we have been to Bright. I enjoyed the time with just Jared, and Camden and Cassandra. I loved the river.Yeah, I’m the big black blob in the middle holding the blow up duva. I was on parent duty while Cassandra jumped from the board, and Camden slipped down the slide. Every day we also dropped into the local milkshake shop. Jared insisted on tasting everyone type of hot chocolate. He even lashed out and bought lollies for the kiddies.How long is that chewing gum!! When we got home from the week of holidays, we picked up the older three from The Presbyterian Youth camp. They had a lovely time and learn’t alot about relationships.We spent the week at home, but Jared kept saying “let’s go out, I’m bored”, so off we went shopping. This photo makes me laugh. It was at the DFO near Mordialloc airport. I just wanted to get home and catch up with the washing!!The next week, we were very much blessed to be offered someone’s house to stay in for the week in Anglesea. We enjoyed the beach, walks and long drives. It was lovely to have the whole family together for the entire week.I tried my hand at being creative. I particularly enjoy the pic of Stephanie.We drove to different places and met up with some friends, and some…well, not friends.